WITH THE festive season now just around the corner, many of us will have been dreaming of the possibility of a white Christmas.

Families will gather together regardless of the weather on the big day, of course.

However, dreams of being out in the snow, having snowball fights, sledging and creating snow angels will no doubt be in the back of many people's minds. 

But, just how likely is it that we'll see snowfall arrive in north Wales when December 25 comes around?

The definition that the Met Office uses to define a white Christmas is for one snowflake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of December 25 somewhere in the UK.

So, when was the last white Christmas in the UK?

Well, with such a wide definition of what a white Christmas actually is, the last one in the UK was recorded in 2021.

Six percent of weather stations recorded snow falling that year, but only one percent reported any snow sticking to the ground.

The most recent significant amount of lying snow recorded in Wales on Christmas Day was in 2009, when 16cm (6in) was recorded at the Llangunllo station in rural Powys.

So, what can we expect this Christmas?

The Met Office says: "We can accurately forecast if snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand.

"Since 1960, around half of the years have seen at least 5% of the network record snow falling on Christmas Day. This means we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a 'white Christmas'.

"However, the Dickensian scene of widespread snow lying on the ground on Christmas Day is much rarer. There has only been a widespread covering of snow on the ground (where more than 40% of stations in the UK reported snow on the ground at 9 am) four times since 1960—in 1981, 1995, 2009 and 2010."

So, it isn't out of the question here in north Wales!

Here are some other snow records at Christmas time in Wales, courtesy of the Met Office: 

  • The deepest snow ever recorded on a Christmas Day in Wales was 45cm at Cae Poeth, Gwynedd in 2010.
  • Meanwhile, the warmest Christmas Day was recorded at a temperature of 15.2 °C at Hawarden, Flintshire, in 2015
  • The wettest Christmas Day came when 165.4mm of rain fell at Capel Curig, Gwynedd in 2015 (that's also a UK record!).
  • The windiest Christmas Day in Wales was when speeds of 78mph hit Aberporth, Dyfed back in 1990.
  • The coldest Christmas Day was a freezing -16.5°C at Llysdinum, Powys in 2010

For many of us, snow is synonymous with Christmas.

Bing Crosby famously dreamt of it, while movies, advent calendars and Christmas cards are all decorated with snow-filled scenes of a white Christmas.

However, the Met Office says that - for most parts of the United Kingdom - Christmas is only at the beginning of the period when it's likely to snow.

We are more likely to see snow between January and March than in December, with snow or sleet falling an average 3.9 days in December, compared to 5.3 days in January, 5.6 days in February and 4.2 days in March.